Graduation
by EndlessMemories-x
Summary: In the end, school really is important.
1. From High Schoolers

**A little present for those who are graduating or already graduated this year. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.**

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All the family members and friends of the students were packed onto the football fiend in simple white fold-up chairs. They were coming in one by one, even though some stayed in big groups so they wouldn't get separated by the seating arrangements. The field was becoming more and more filled, there was slight fear that they might need to find and fetch more chairs.

A girl of pale blonde hair peeked out from behind the bleachers, trying to spot her parents. With no luck, she turned around and ran back into the building with the rest of her graduating class. Once passing by the many teachers and students in the hallways, she reached her group of friends at the very end of the hall inside the gym.

"Did you find them?" Her male friend, a tired looking boy with his short brown hair down so his cap could stay on properly. He leaned back on the gym wall in his white cap and gown.

The blonde shook her head. "Too many people." Her loose curls bounced to and fro as she leaned next to him. She looked down at her golden gown, inspecting for wrinkles. "I can't believe this is really happening."

"We had a good run in his room," The boy looked around the old room. The climbing rope was tied to the ceiling, the basketball hoops were up, one set of bleachers were out for them to sit on, the wooden floor perfectly polished for this occasion. "in this entire building." The blonde nodded.

"Hey you two!" Another blonde with tan skin and ocean blue eyes came up to the pair. Behind him was a female, who very pale with navy blue hair and clear pupils, and a male with dark hair that matched his eyes and went mysteriously well his with pale skin. "How's it going?"

"Hey Naruto, Hinata, Sasuke." The male nodded them off. "We're just remembering all the times we had here, and how this whole thing is hard to believe."

"Yeah," The blonde, Naruto, nodded along. "but I'm shocked you didn't graduate earlier, Shikamaru. Why is that?"

"I wanted to end out my senior year with little to no activity whatsoever. Ruining that and leaving junior year would've sucked. Besides, I agreed to heading out with you guys, and I'm keeping that promise."

"Aw, Shika! You do care about us!" The female blonde jumped up, hugging her friend. "And you said you always hated us."

"Please let go of me, Ino. I would like to make it through this _alive_, thank you." The girl let go on command.

"Have you seen the other four?" Sasuke spoke up, his white cap in his hand. "We've been looking for them everywhere."

"Oh, Sakura's looking for her parents like I was before. Kiba's getting some last minute hookups in, Shino is…somewhere, probably in a dark corner being socially awkward like he normally is, and where do you think Choiji is?" Ino smiled at the dark-haired male. He smirked at her last comment.

As if on cue, a dot of pink hair under a golden cap was seen at the gym doors, running toward the group. She was slightly panting once she reached them. "Did you guys really have to be so far, jeez."

"You were on the track team, Sakura," Naruto looked down at her. "we should be hearing no complaints from you about being 'so far'."

"Shut up!" She regained her composure and looked at the silent girl next to her. "Oh, Hinata, I saw your cousin. He's here with his other two friends."

"Neji's here? Alright!" Naruto fist pumped in the air. The other two boys just smirked.

"What about my father? Did he show up yet?" Hinata turned to the other girl.

Sakura shook her head. "I didn't see him yet. He might be getting here soon, though. The event's about to start soon."

"Oh my gosh, guys." Naruto spoke up again. You're not gonna believe what I just remembered."

Sasuke grunted. "What is it, dobe?"

"Remember when we had the gigantic food fight junior year?"

"Oh my God, yes!" Ino jumped up again. "I remember you throwing pizza in my hair. Jerk." Naruto laughed.

"That was a good day." Shika nodded his head slowly as he began to remember the hot day in May last year.

_"Do it dude. Do it. Do it!" Sasuke pressured the blonde with the tomato._

_"We will get in so much trouble!" Naruto stood stiff with the vegetable in his palm._

_"Who cares? It'll be fun. Some girls look like they need some water on them anyways."_

_"That was just gross, Sasuke." Shika spoke from the other side of the blonde._

_"I'm not doing it." Naruto shook his head, placing the tomato back on to the table. Sasuke shook his head in disappointment._

_"I expected so much from you."_

_"It's not that big of a deal, Sasuke." Shika scratched his forehead and went back to leaning on the table._

_"I know, I'm just saying, the self-proclaimed 'class clown' would do such a stunt like this."_

_"Just drop it, teme."_

_"I'm not gonna drop it unless you start something in here. Until then, I'm not-" He was interrupted by a sudden gash of red flying toward his face. The wide smirk on Naruto's face said everything._

_Some of the students around them stared in shock as Sasuke slowly wiped the smashed tomato from his face. He gave Naruto one look and mirrored his look. As if on cue, both boys screamed "FOOD FIGHT!"_

_Shikamaru ducked underneath the table as apples, pizza, milk, soda, any kind of food imaginable was being thrown around in the room. The teachers moved swiftly as they dodged numerous chunks of meat to get security._

_Over the course of 7 minutes, more food was thrown that eaten that entire day. The principal barged in with all the security available and punished everyone who took part of the altercation. Ironically, Shikamaru was the only student there who did not face a month long detention._

"Yeah…" Naruto smiled, nodding his head in approval. "those detentions were wonderful."

"That's because some random girl was all over you. Do you even remember her name?" Sakura crossed her arms across her chest.

"I don't even remember what she looked like."

"On a lighter note…" Ino trailed off, trying to change conversations before something inappropriate came up. "remember out proms?"

"Oh my God!" Sakura squealed. "Best nights of my life!"

"Especially for Hinata," Shika smirked. "since she managed to have a better night than all of us."

The girl blushed. "I wouldn't say that…"

"Oh please," Sasuke chimed up. "This idiot over here couldn't keep his hands off of you the entire night."

"Hey!" Naruto yelled, a slight blush creeping on his face. "Let's keep it PG Rated over here."

"Whatever."

"At least I had a good time Sasuke, what were you doing the whole night?"

"Shut up." He rolled his eyes.

"Anyways," Sakura pulled on the collar of her gown. "is it time to go out yet?"

"Nope, about 5 more minutes." Shika looked at his watch.

"Attention graduates!" A teacher yelled from the room doors. "I need all of you to come outside in the hallway and arrange yourselves like in the rehearsal!"

The swarm of seniors moved toward the doors as they lined up in the hallway one-by-one. The lining, unfortunately, was in alphabetical order, so everyone had to hurry and finish their conversations.

"I'm so nervous!" Ino moved through the gym doors and planted herself on the wall next to them. "This is like, the most important day of our high school life."

"Not to mention it being the last." Sasuke stood next to Shika. "As much as I hated this place, and I always wanted to leave, I'm really gonna miss it." The group nodded in agreement.

"I just remembered something!" Hinata smiled, making everyone turn toward her. "Remember when we first came to this school? Our first times in these hallways?"

"Now that I think about it," Shika repositioned himself. "it wasn't that long ago."

"Yeah, like 4 years isn't a long time ago." Naruto scoffed.

"No, I mean…it feels like it was just yesterday, we were all freshman, with our big backpacks and two packs of pencils, so excited to come to the 'big school', meeting new people, experiencing a new scene in life."

"It's weird now all of that is behind us and we're leaving forever." Ino played with a strand of her hair as the small group now became silent.

"Line up everybody!" The same teacher from before came back and the rest of the stray students moved into line with the rest. "On my signal, we walk out slowly and wait for instructions from the principal."

The whole entire area suddenly became tense. Everyone was nervous for this day.

"Psst! Ino!" Naruto whispered loudly from in front a few people. The blonde looked forward at the call of her name. "You ready for this?" He shot up his famous thumbs up sign.

The female let out a deep sign and then smiled. "Yeah." She turned around and sighed again, playing with the material on the gown. _'This is it.'_


	2. To Adulthood

"Welcome everybody to today's lovely event!" The assistant principal greeted into the microphone as the audience of family members, friends, and past graduates clapped and cheered. "The staff here today are very grateful to all each and every one of you here with us today, celebrating the class of 2012 and their achievements!" The crowd roared again in excitement. "Being the assistant principal of this school for 7 years, I have seen the best of the best leave this school. So much love, respect, and teamwork has passed on from grade to grade throughout each year.

"Being a graduate from here myself, I can honestly say this school does not play games. Every day, from September to June, for four years straight, each student, staff member, teacher, counselor work their butts off to make sure we are the best school in this glorious country. And we did it, even if we are the only high school here." Few people in the crowd laughed. "But enough bragging, I would like to introduce to all of you, the school's principal, Lady Tsunade!" Said woman stood up from her spot on stage as the crowd gave her a standing ovation. She stood at the podium, waving off everyone as the cheering died down.

"Thank you all for coming. This event means so much to me as it does to all of you. Before I bring out the graduates, I have a little speech to say." She looked down at the sheet of paper in front of her and began speaking again. "To say our school is 'one of the greatest', it's an understatement. Yes, we are the only high school in this country, but saying we are the greatest just doesn't fit. I've worked here for the past 3 years, and I can honestly say...this school, the students, the staff, the teachers, every last person that spends their day here, we are more than just 'the greatest'. We are much more. Never in my years in education have I seen a much more dedicated bunch"

As slow music started to play in the background, the graduating class began to walk out from the school, behind the bleachers, making their way onto the stage. Tsunade stopped talking once the first student showed up as everyone in the audience cheered their hearts out. Tears started pouring down some mother's faces as they saw their son or daughter walk across the stage. Even some seniors were teary eyed. Once the last few students took their seats in the bleachers, the audience's cheering died down, Tsunade looked behind her at the ocean of gold and white with a big smile on her face. "Words cannot begin to describe how proud I am. I know I said that time and time again, but this time is serious. If I look back at all the graduations I've been present to, this one will always make me proud the most. Seeing these kids turn into adults in the three years I was present was truly an amazing treat. Like them, I never wanted this day to come. That means I would have to say goodbye to all the memories I had with this class. The years to come will not even top this year, not even close. I am so glad, as a principal, as an officer, as a friend, to see them grow up and experience the real world. Before I start bawling my eyes now, I introduce to you, the valedictorian of the class of 2012, Mister Shikamaru Nara."

The lazy genius got up from his seat and walked down the bleacher stairs as his peers around him and the audience in front of him cheered. He caught eyes of his parents, his mom stand up, clapping with tears in her eyes, and his dad applauding his son from his seat. He reached the podium and the area slowly started to quiet down.

"If we're all being honestly right now, let me just say I did not make a fantabulous speech like Lady Tsunade did, quite frankly I forgot to make one. So I'm gonna wing this and I hope this makes sense by the time it ends." He took a deep breath in and let it out, collecting his thoughts. "I just had a conversation with my friends before we came out here about our memories in this school. Safe to say I didn't do anything stupid, unlike my other friends, but I did have fun here. I know it's not the most normal thing to say 'I actually have fun in school' without people thinking you're nuts. But if you really think about, being in school is most likely the highlight of your day, besides leaving. Talking to your friends during class, arguing with a teacher every now and again is a plus. What I'm trying to say is that school isn't half that bad. They say high school is the best four years of your life. I don't agree with that for all the money in the world, but I get what it's saying.

"During the years you're in here, you learn close to everything you need to know before your graduation comes up and you're off to college and the real world. Being in school is your safe haven, your boot camp before the real mission begins. One of the most important things I've learned ever since entering high school was to achieve your dreams, no matter what the cost is. You can talk about being an astronaut, for example, and preach your life away on how you're going to become one. But if you don't actually try, and take the steps to become one, then what's the point? This one girl I know in my Trig class told me she wanted to be in the army. Her family always told her it was too dangerous and that she shouldn't do it. But she never gave up, entered the programs the school sponsored and now she's fighting for our country. She reached her dream, despite her family's pleas. In my life, if you know me very well, I am probably the laziest person on this planet." A few people in the audience and the class yelled out in agreement. "I am that type of person who doesn't want to do anything productive, just lay around and stare at the sky all day. Despite my laziness, I still paid attention in my classes, even though half the time I was asleep, aced all my tests and now I'm the freaking valedictorian of my class. I never expected that to happen, but it did. It's not necessarily a dream, but I reached it, shockingly.

"What I'm trying to say here is don't give up. Stay strong. School is tough, yes, nobody said it was going to be easy. But it prepares you for the troubles in life. Take everything that you learned the last four years and go up to your first job, your college, your dreams, your new life, and say 'I'm ready for this'. Nothing good is going to come your way unless you do something about it. Right now, I want to thank my mother for being such a drag to me everyday, but pushing me to do my best, my father for literally pushing me around just for me to get up off my lazy ass, my entire family for being there for me, my friends for dealing with my sarcastic comments and never listening to me, to my teachers for giving me the knowledge I need to make it through life, Lady Tsunade and the assistant principals for keeping us in line for the last few years, and to everyone here supporting their son, daughter, niece, nephew, or a complete stranger, thank you for helping us along the way to create a better tomorrow. Thank you all." He stepped off the stage as everyone in sight stood up for the longest applause of the day. Shikamaru smirked back to his seat as people he didn't even know went to the school patted him on the back in congratulations.

The assistant principal came back to the microphone a few minutes later once the audience and class had quieted down their cheering. "I can honestly say that was unexpected for a winged speech." Shika shot up a thumbs up. "Now that those wonderful speeches were done, I now bring back up Lady Tsunade as we finally hand out the diplomas to our graduates." The crowd clapped again as Tsunade made her way toward the podium again, calling each student by last name in alphabetical order. The crowd went from cheering from laughing as Naruto danced his way up to get his award, butt dancing with Tsunade.

"Thank you Mr. Uzumaki for that…lovely dance you did." He smiled back as the class and the audience laughed again. "Now without a further ado, students, please stand up." Once all the students rose, background music of Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO began to slowly become louder. "Now," The assistant principal turned to the side while still speaking into the microphone. "parents, family, loved ones, The Sarutobi Hiruzen School of Education proudly presents the Class of 2012!"

Both groups jumped in the air with excitement as the song blasted through the speakers, everyone clapping, dancing, or hugging one another. Phones and cameras were snapping photos or recording these precious moments, especially when the football team was shuffling with pom-pom's in their hands. The now legit graduates threw their caps off in sync, dancing to the famous song.

Before the assistant could even say another word, all the former students ran off the bleachers and blended in with the huge crowd of parents and others. There was hugging, tears of joy, more dancing, future Facebook profile pictures being taken, all the beautiful and pure moments of a big event like this one.

"I never knew you had it in you, Nara." Said boy turned from his parents to see Sasuke and the rest of his friends walk up to him. "Making a big crowd like that cry."

"Hey, it's part of the job." He smirked. "My mom was just telling me how I should be a journalist of a social activist." His mother nodded with a huge smile and tear stains on her cheeks.

"Can we steal your child for a moment?" Ino grabbed his arm as both his parents nodded. The group quickly grabbed the boy and zoomed off to a semi-clear area of the nearby soccer field. They then all sat down on the freshly cut grass. "So, this is it. It really just happened."

"To think we waited twelve years for this, being scared and everything, and it only lasted about, 30 minutes." Hinata looked down and started ripping out the blades of green from the ground.

"Yeah. Now we're on to bigger and better things." Naruto smiled, attempting to loosen the gown from his body. "I feel great."

"Me too." Sakura smiled back. "And it's not like we're separating forever. We're kind of forced to go to the same college."

"We only have one," Sasuke placed his elbows on his knees. "that's why we're all going to the same place."

"That is, if we all get accepted, mind you, Sasuke." He nodded at her comment.

"We'll worry about that later." Shika leaned in closer to his small group of friends. The only people who had his back for the past four years, give or take a few others. "Right now, let's just settle and be happy that we're all done with school, and we have the rest of our lives ahead of us."

"I hear that!" Naruto shot up, suddenly pumped with my enthusiasm that beforehand. "Let's make a promise, right now!"

"What are you going on about?" Ino got up with the help of Shika, the rest followed suit.

"Let's make a promise, I didn't stutter" The male blonde then extended his arm to the middle of their little circle. "Let's promise to never lose contact with one another. To always attempts to make plans with each other and never forget the great times we had as friends. To be honest, I don't know where I'll be without you guys."

Sasuke looked at his friend and smirked, placing his hand on top of Naruto's. "I can agree with that."

Ino smiled and placed her hand on Sasuke's. "Same here!" Hinata and Sakura smiled at each other and added their hands to the scramble. "What about you Shika?"

Shika didn't move as fast as his friends did, but it's not like he was stalling. He was thinking about what Naruto had said and never forgetting the times they had. Once he came back to the present, he smiled and put his hand on top of everybody else's. "This is legit. Nobody can break this. Not until we go to college." They all nodded.

"On the count of three, we scream 'Go Graduates!'" Sakura yelled.

"Why 'Go Graduates'?" Hinata giggled at her friend.

"Because that was the first thing that came to mind. That, and I don't think the boys would appreciate 'Friendship Forever!'"

"Glad you thought that through." Sasuke shook his head. The girls laughed.

"Alright then! Ready?" Naruto began to silently count. "1.…2.…3!"

"Go Graduates!" They screamed as their arms flew up to the sky, other people who were around looked and laughed at him in admiration. The small group of friends laughed, or smirked, depending on who you asked, their day away as the graduation ceremony continued throughout the day.

A big banner appeared in front of the school building as the remaining staff was struggling to keep it up. The banner said a few simple words, but had great meaning.

'_Congratulations Class of 2012! We're Proud Of You!'_

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**Very short, I know. I wrote this since my school's current seniors are graduating later on today. So a small gift to all graduates of the 2012 school year all over. I wish all of you the best of luck in your adventure through life! Go Class of 2012!**


End file.
